That's not a commute, this is a commute

Stuart Cumming
Reporter
Stuart studied journalism at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. He worked briefly at Central Queensland News and Warwick Daily News. He has worked as a reporter at The Chronicle since July 2009.

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The first leg of his journey while working for Parker Drilling International was by road from Buddina to Brisbane Airport.

Mr Ahearn would then fly to Singapore, continuing to stops in London and Budapest.

"Very rarely we were lucky enough, depending on flights, to stay overnight in Budapest to catch up on sleep but more often than not we would arrive into Budapest around 8am and fly out again 7pm."

He would then fly to Atyrau in Kazakhstan.

"Once we arrived in Atyrau we would be herded like cattle into the very small immigration processing offices for passport and security checks.

"Unfortunately this building only had enough room for 40 people at any one time and most of our crew changes would be 80 to 100 people so needless to say that more often than not we were stuck outside in -20 - 30C weather for periods up to 45 minutes to get processed.

"I used to practice my running and sprinting when I would come home to make sure I would not get caught out in that weather too often."

Then he would catch a bus to the city's train station to start a four-hour rail journey to Kulsary.

"If you had any tenge, the local currency, you could purchase a blanket and well-used pillow from the toothless elderly lady at the rear of the carriage who swore at you... and threw the items at you."

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Would you travel between countries just for your commute?

This poll ended on 15 December 2018.

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Possibly, it would be a great way to see new things.

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From Kulsary he would catch a bus to Tengiz about two hours away.

There about 8000 itinerant workers living in Tengiz and surrounding villages at the time.